


a leap through time

by yaxuxi



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, brief descriptions of violence, inspired by umbrella academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18842221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaxuxi/pseuds/yaxuxi
Summary: Sunwoo and Haknyeon are time travelers. They meet, and the timeline goes haywire.





	1. a tale of 2

**Author's Note:**

> this tag is dead so lets wake up sunhak nation!!!! 
> 
> inspired by umbrella academy and this tweet: https://twitter.com/jinhottention/status/1033896687641612288

It was always an empty subway car. Haknyeon had long forgotten how many decades he’d been doing this, but after his fiftieth mission, his rest stop between jumps permanently became the empty subway car. 

One tiny window adorned the left end of the cart, and even though Haknyeon knew there would never be anyone else on the other side, he always chanced a glance in. A lonely speaker always appeared next to him, and the tune of a hauntingly familiar song (a song he couldn’t quite place his finger on) would pour out, mixing with the trembling of the wheels outside. 

It was the same routine: change into his next outfit, clothes flying haphazardly, and rest for as long as possible. Nothing changed inside the subway car; the same neon lights greeted him, the same hour long break, and the same feeling of dread and excitement for the next jump.

The first time things changed was when Haknyeon saw  _ him.  _

 

The jump had gone as expected. He had interfered in a tiny event, altered a few people’s memories, and the timeline had been restored to its intended fate. Haknyeon had considered relaxing in that particular time for a while (the sight of winding roads and mountain cabins had been appealing), but he had been summoned back. 

Haknyeon’s job was simple enough; their organization was in charge of fixing any discrepancies in the timeline, meaning — _ time travel.  _ He was one of the many field workers, people that actually jumped to different times in history and made sure things happened the way they were supposed to (their department was in charge of the timeline until the 5000s, which meant lining up quite a number of historical events). 

It had started to become repetitive after a few hundred jumps, but Haknyeon had gotten used to the schedule of things. Pretend to do paperwork for a week, receive a mission, prepare for the jump, finish the mission, get placed at a rest stop, and repeat. 

The sight of the subway car, glaring with familiarity, was almost comforting, albeit a bit cold with how empty it was. Haknyeon carefully took a seat on the edge of the bench, eyes sliding shut as he flung his briefcase aside. 

A cursory glance at the tiny window, and Haknyeon almost looked away to continue with his routine, if not for a pair of wide eyes meeting his.  _ Eyes _ _ — _ _ eyes that weren’t his. _ Haknyeon stood up in a rush, nearly stumbling in his lunge towards the window. 

But with one shake of the cart, the man on the other side vanished in a stroke of wind swept hair, dangly earrings, and bright, pink lips. The sound of his heart thudding was all that filled the subway cart, and soon enough, he was being whisked away for his jump (Haknyeon barely had time to shove into the colonel uniform that had been waiting for him). 

 

Sunwoo wasn’t much inclined to the places he stopped in between jumps, the scenery changing every single time (he preferred empty apartments most of the time, a bed and food enough for him). He barely remembered these moments, too preoccupied with the next jump, the next mission, the next era he’d land up in. 

So, when he landed inside a subway cart (fairly empty, except for the oddly enticing window to his right), Sunwoo didn’t think twice of it. His heart was still racing from the chase he had barely managed to jump out of, activating the time jump just as he escaped his tail. The bullet hole in his now destroyed jacket had smoke curling out of it, and it reminded him of how lucky he had gotten. 

Eric always reminded him that he wasn’t immortal, regardless of how this job made you feel like that sometimes. Sunwoo had survived jumping off sky high towers, grin lighting up his face as he activated the jump —so he wasn’t much inclined to listen. But Eric was also one of his only friends at headquarters, so he didn’t protest when the younger worried about him after missions—it made him feel like… more. Sunwoo liked to dream that he could have time to meet people, to have a life outside of all  _ this.  _

A muffled pop snapped him out of his ministrations, drawing his eyes back to the window. Sunwoo’s eyes widened at what he saw, unconsciously standing up for a closer look. He lightly pinched the inside of his wrist, eyes unblinking as he laid a trembling hand on the surprisingly cool glass of the window. 

Sunwoo stood there and just stared, lips curling up into a smile despite the shock. He had never bumped into another jumper during a jump(especially one as alluring as the one in front of him), so his curiosity was at an all time high. 

The man in the cart had cherry red hair that fell in waves, cupping his head to accentuate his cheeks. His eyes were bright and calculating, sharp in a familiar way—the same way Sunwoo’s eyes looked when he caught a sliver of his reflection. Sunwoo watched with a small smile, wishing that the other would look over at him before he had to leave for his next jump. 

And just as Sunwoo felt the telltale pull in his body, the stranger’s eyes—brilliant hazel eyes that seemed omnipresent—slid over to him, widening in surprise. All Sunwoo could do was smile before he disappeared, the loud pop being the only trace of his presence. 

  
  


Haknyeon hated missions that included wars. Aside from the obvious trauma of war, he couldn’t stand the subject of the missions. (The blood on his hands was far from literal; he carried the deaths of countless, nameless people—people he didn’t even know why he was killing, people he tried to stop thinking about; He hadn’t slept well since his first kill, and Haknyeon was sure he never would.) 

The sound of rapidly firing bullets, pained screams, bombs exploding too close for comfort, and Kevin’s comforting voice in his ear was Haknyeon’s current soundtrack, accompanying him as he stalked through the weeds. He was covered in all sorts of dirt and blood, grime under his fingernails from when he had desperately clawed a gun out of some soldier’s cold hands to protect himself. 

“This is odd,” Came Kevin’s voice, crackling through the tiny bluetooth piece Haknyeon had hastily shoved into his ear before the jump. 

“What? What’s odd?” Haknyeon hissed, barely avoiding a landmine that had been left out in the open. The word “odd” was never comforting, especially on a mission where he literally risked his life. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this…”

“Oh my god, Kev, just say it for fuck’s sake,” Haknyeon snapped, not in the mood for the Observer’s dramatics. The battlefield always got on his nerves, eating away at any patience he had (which was already a small amount, so he was downright nasty during these missions). 

“Jeez, what crawled up your ass today?” Kevin teased, whistling lowly when Haknyeon had to pull a matrix-esque move to avoid a bullet. Haknyeon stuck his tongue out, knowing the other would see it through the live feed a few seconds later. 

“Are you going to tell me now?” Haknyeon asked after a few beats of silence, sighing under his breath as he finally found a safe place to sit down. 

“Oh, yeah. The sensors are picking up on someone with an identical signature to your’s, meaning another time jumper is in the area. It’s odd because hq almost  _ never  _ sends two jumpers in,” Kevin informed him quickly; only if you knew him well would you be able to pick up on how tense it was. 

Haknyeon digested the information. It could mean one of two things: the only time in all of jumper history that two people had been noticeably sent in was because hq wanted them to partner up,  _ or _ … one of them was supposed to die during this mission. He suddenly understood the tension in Kevin’s voice, and Haknyeon felt his heart rate speed up. 

This job wasn’t safe—everyone knew that, even if you were just a desk job, the chances of you dying went infinitely up. Haknyeon’s job was one of the most dangerous, especially considering how popular he was with hq. He was routinely sent on assassination jobs, and he had spent his fair share of time in the hq’s hospital field (which is why he was such good friends with Sangyeon and Hyunjoon, the two doctors). 

“Where are they?” Haknyeon asked quietly, pushing the fear to the back of his mind. He didn’t have time to worry; the clock for the mission was ticking down. Kevin sighed in response, pushing the image of the map to Haknyeon’s mission watch, which glowed in the darkness of the battle. 

“Be careful, Hak,” Were Kevin’s final words, before the bluetooth clicked, letting him know that the line had disconnected. Haknyeon preferred to cut the connection during kills; he couldn’t stand the thought of someone else listening while the deed was done. 

A brief glance at the map told him the other jumper was only a few feet away, hidden in the foliage. Haknyeon took a deep breath to placate himself, stalking forward and blindly pushing past the trees. The sound of someone laughing lowly became louder as he drew closer to the heat signature, and Haknyeon ignored how his heart panged at the deep chuckle. 

One more step, and he was through, and the sight in front of him made his breath catch. The same man he had seen in the subway stood in front of him, a bright grin lighting up his face as he mumbled something into the earpiece his hand was pressed against. Haknyeon’s eye caught on the barcode tattoo adorning his neck, a knowing sign of the time jumper organization. 

“What the fuck,” Fell from Haknyeon’s lips before he could stop himself, and much louder than he intended. The man stopped laughing abruptly, immediately on edge the instant he caught sight of Haknyeon, eyes narrowing before widening in surprise… and recognition? 

“You!” 

“Me?” Haknyeon fired back, confusion coloring his words. He stood in the tiny clearing, hands in the air (the man had pointed his gun at him the second they made eye contact, and it still hadn’t dropped to his side). 

“You’re the one I saw in the subway car,” The man replied, eyes still narrowed as he slowly lowered his gun, standing up to his full height. Haknyeon averted his eyes, nervously noting the few inches the man held on him. 

“I saw you too. I’m also a jumper, if that helps,” Haknyeon offered, deciding to lay his cards on the table. Petty bickering wouldn’t help, and he had a mission to finish. 

“How do I know you’re not lying?” 

“How would I know about jumpers if I wasn’t one?” Haknyeon retorted, rolling his eyes before roughly yanking down his collar to reveal the identical tattoo on his neck. Recognition lit up the other’s eyes, lips finally pulling out of the furious scowl. 

“Kim Sunwoo. Hell of a way to meet,” Sunwoo grinned through his words, teeth flashing in the night as he offered his hand. Haknyeon grasped onto the hand firmly, a wave of something unknown (yet comforting) washing over him when they made contact. Sunwoo’s eyes were filled with a familiar sharpness, and it made Haknyeon feel like things would turn out alright. 

“Ju Haknyeon. And we have a mission to finish.” 

  
  


Sunwoo appraised the man next to him with drawn eyebrows and lips pressed into a thin line, mind racing. A suffocating silence had fallen over the room, but he wasn’t willing to break it yet, too busy observing Haknyeon. The other hadn’t told him much other than his name, and the fact that he was much more experienced than Sunwoo (the little scoff when Sunwoo had revealed his clearance tag was a clue to that as well). 

“Something on my face, Mr.Kim?” Haknyeon’s irritated voice cut into Sunwoo’s thoughts, and all he could do was shoot the elder a sheepish smile. 

“Just beauty, Mr.Ju,” Sunwoo replied, attaching a cheesy wink, which only elicited an unpleasant look in Haknyeon’s eyes. This was also a new thing; Sunwoo was flirtatious by nature (he had nearly scared off Eric with the pick up lines), but when he saw people he was genuinely attracted to, any hint of suaveness flew out the window. 

“Kevin! Thank god you’re here, I can’t bear another minute with him!” 

Sunwoo watched with raised eyebrows as Haknyeon stood up in a frenzy as one of the Observers walked into the room. Eric walked in immediately after, but Sunwoo’s eyes were still glued to Haknyeon. It was almost amusing the way Haknyeon immediately latched onto the Kevin guy, a pout forming on his lips. 

“Do you know why they called us here?” Eric murmured, rushing over to the empty chair on Sunwoo’s left after they all settled into the seats (Sunwoo noted that Haknyeon still took the seat next to him with a pleased smile). 

“Maybe they made a mistake and wanted to fill us in on why these two had the same mission?” Kevin’s head was tilted in thought, and it made Sunwoo think back on the mission. 

Regardless of Haknyeon’s apparent dislike for what Sunwoo said half the time, they had worked like a well-oiled machine during the mission. Haknyeon was always there when Sunwoo was lacking, appearing like a charm anytime the thought even began to form in Sunwoo’s mind. Parallely, Sunwoo was quick to go along with any crazy idea Haknyeon had, recognizing the manic little glint in his eyes as a stupid plan that could go horribly right. They had pulled off the mission without any issues. 

“Actually,” A robotic voice filtered over the tiny speaker in the center of the table, “we’re here to offer a proposition. It’s quite rare, and this is the first time in a few million jumps we are offering this.”   
A sudden sense of knowing filled Sunwoo, and he tilted his head to see the same thing filling Haknyeon’s eyes. They made eye contact, and it felt like he had been punched in the gut. The elder’s eyes were burning with determination, hands curled tightly into a fist. Sunwoo gulped; this wouldn’t be easy. 

“We would like you to be partners. Jumpers normally do solo missions, but for our high level and top priority missions, we always send out partners due to the difficulty and urgency levels. So—” 

Before they could even finish, the clattering of a chair falling to the floor filled the room. Sunwoo silently watched in shock as Haknyeon stood up quickly, hands pressed flat against the table. This time, when they made eye contact, it was in mutual understanding; Haknyeon nodded tightly at whatever look was in Sunwoo’s eyes (he assumed it was something agreeable, for no words were passed between them). 

“We’re in. Push the information to our Observers. Agent O, out.” 

“You were  _ not  _ dismissed, Agent O—” The door slamming shut cut off the electronic voice, and Sunwoo felt winded by how quick it had happened, and what he had found out. The speaker had turned off, signaling the end of the meeting, but the silence was still everpresent.  

“Agent…  _ O?  _ He has one of the  _ original  _ letters?” Eric was the first one to break the heavy silence, eyes wide as he looked over at Kevin, who was grimacing. 

“ _ Yes.  _ Haknyeon has been here quite a while. I’m his thirtieth Observer, but the only one he’s had for more than a thousand jumps,” Kevin informed them, sighing and looking at the door with a frustrated look. 

Sunwoo wasn’t sure what to make of it; every agent he had ever heard of with one of the original letters was dead, or had gone insane from the sense of timelessness because of the countless jumps. Haknyeon looked perfectly sane, and he was very much alive. And being an original agent meant he had made a deal with hq—had traded his life away in return for a favor from hq. 

“Is he always like that?” Sunwoo blurted out, waving his hands vaguely to reference what had just occurred. 

“A little shit?” Kevin smirked playfully, laughing at the deer-in-headlights look Eric and Sunwoo gave him. “Only when hq pisses him off, which is 99% of the time.” 

“He has every right, though. HQ has put all the original agents through hell and back—and they’ll continue to do so, at least as long he’s still alive.” 

Kevin let his words sit, looking away from the two with a cleared throat. Sunwoo realized with a hint of panic that the elder’s eyes looked suspiciously glassy, and that this was much more serious than he had originally thought. Eric shared a wide eyed look with him, and the two turned back to see Kevin looking normal again. 

“Well, I gotta get going. There’s a shit ton of paperwork to fill out for this,” Kevin said, blanching at the thought of paperwork. Eric gave Sunwoo one final look that said ‘we will be talking about this,’ before standing to follow Kevin, their gripings about paperwork fading into the background. 

Sunwoo sat at the empty table, mind flashing with images of Haknyeon and their mission. He couldn’t get the haunted look in the other’s eyes after the mission, still there even when the two had smiled about their success. Sunwoo’s stomach turned, and he wished, not for the first time, that he hadn’t taken this job. 

  
  


Haknyeon was dressed to the nines, expensive labels covering every inch of his body as he stepped out of the equally as expensive car. He covered his eyes from the sun with his hand, pushing through the horde of people into the hotel. He could tell from the screeching of wheels outside that Sunwoo had arrived, meaning the other would be joining him inside minutes later. 

It was their first official mission (second one, technically) and the stakes were already high. They had to alter the results of an infamous gambling game at an extravagant hotel casino somewhere in Europe, and the lives of several hundred people were riding on it. Haknyeon had accepted the mission with glee, though; it had been far too long since he had been assigned a mission where he could live lavishly. 

The head to toe black outfits they had been handed were beautiful in different ways; Haknyeon was dressed classily, adorned with flashing rings and glossy lips that accentuated the silver accents on the black suit. Sunwoo was dressed in a style completely opposite of his, perfectly matching the motorcycle he had been given for the mission. 

“You’re early, babe,” A voice murmured from next to him, following by an arm sliding around his waist. Haknyeon rolled his eyes, biting his lip momentarily as he glanced over at Sunwoo, who had a teasing smirk on his lips. 

“Call me babe again, and I’ll show you what I’ve learned from these missions,” Haknyeon threatened through a bright grin, laughing to himself internally at the way Sunwoo tensed. His smile didn’t slip, however—they had to keep up appearances. The two were posing as a wealthy couple out on a casual trip to Europe, and they had to look the part. 

They took their time walking over to the receptionist, letting the inquisitive eyes linger on them. Haknyeon knew Sunwoo would get appreciative glances, but he was surprised at the eyes he caught following him as well. 

Haknyeon took that time to really  _ look  _ at Sunwoo, and he scowled at the way his cheeks flushed. The other was clad in tight black pants that stuck to his legs, paired with an equally as tight black, long sleeved shirt, and finally, a black leather jacket thrown on. Sunwoo’s outfit also had identical silver accents, screaming to the world that they were a couple. 

“Mr.Kim’s?” 

Oh, that was new. Haknyeon was used to doing solo missions, and the physical proof that the era of solos was done was jarring. He glanced at the key cards being slid over, and couldn’t help the satisfied smile at the ‘KIM’ written across it. Haknyeon knew without looking that Sunwoo undoubtedly had a large smirk on his face, unbearably smug at the fact that they were using his last name. 

“That’s us. Did you prepare the cart with our dinner in the room? My husband doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” 

Sheepish charm dripped from Sunwoo’s words, the disarming smile on his face causing the receptionist to jump to answer, nodding. Haknyeon didn’t miss the way her eyes dimmed at husband, and he arched an eyebrow, a tiny pleased smile appearing. They accepted her well wishes with fake smiles, letting the tiny suitcases they had brought be taken by the bellboy. 

The instant they turned around, Haknyeon’s smile dropped from his face; Kevin had been rapidly feeding information into their ears for the past five minutes, and he could tell Sunwoo was growing frustrated at the fact that the mission hadn’t started yet. Haknyeon stepped into the elevators, sighing in relief once Kevin stopped talking. 

Once the elevator doors shut, Sunwoo turned to him with raised eyebrows. Haknyeon realized a beat too late how close they were—far too close, considering they were the only people in the elevator. Their arms brushed, and Haknyeon could see the individual lashes of Sunwoo’s. He ignored the way his skin felt hotter (and he most certainly ignored the way Sunwoo’s tongue darted out to wet his lips), and tried to focus on what the other was saying. 

“—careful. Hak, are you even listening?” 

_ That  _ was also new. Sunwoo had taken it upon himself to create a nickname for him, and after several botched names (Hakkie, Haknie, hak hak), he had finally decided on Hak. Haknyeon accepted it with a roll of his eyes, but had told the other by no means was he calling him by any nicknames. Sunwoo was a perfectly acceptable name, and it didn’t need any modification from Haknyeon. 

“Uh,” Haknyeon cleared his throat, nervously pulling at his collar, “yes?” 

“Okay, you clearly weren’t.” Sunwoo rolled his eyes, but in a more teasing than rebuking way, before continuing, “I was just saying make sure you’re careful. Eric said he did some recon on this specific event, and that a lot of big names in the mob show up tonight.” 

Haknyeon hummed thoughtfully, not noticing the almost fond look Sunwoo gave him as he zoned out, mentally mapping every big name he knew, and who he had run across before. 

“Okay, plan: kick ass and get the hell out of here?” Sunwoo shot him a wild little grin, eyebrows dancing in mirth. Haknyeon couldn’t help the large smile that appeared, heart beginning to race with excitement. 

“You took the words right out of my mouth.” 

  
  


Sunwoo wasn’t sure how they ended up here.  _ Here,  _ as in pressed up against each other from shoulder to hip, huddled under the bar while chaos reigned above them. The sound of furious cursing and bullets ringing filled the casino, and Sunwoo knew who to blame. 

“Why did you have to go and open your big mouth?” Sunwoo hissed, scowling at Haknyeon, who looked a little too innocent for instigating a bar fight. The other just shot him puppy eyes, which looked slightly out of place with the blood splattered on their clothes. 

“He was making fun of your skills! What type of husband would I be if I didn’t stand up for you?” Haknyeon asked indignantly, lips pulled down into a pout ( _be strong,_ Sunwoo told himself, _don’t fall for that ridiculously adorable pout)_. 

“You know we’re not actually married, right?” 

“According to these  _ rings _ —” Haknyeon abruptly grabbed onto Sunwoo’s hand, bringing their matching platinum rings into view, “—we are  _ so  _ married!” 

Sunwoo ripped his hand out of Haknyeon’s grip a beat too late, immensely grateful for the strobing lights hiding the flush that spread across his face, and down his neck. The rings had been suggested by Eric, who had shot Sunwoo teasing smirks throughout the entirety of the planning meeting (the two of them had known each other far too long to not pick up on the other’s tells, so Eric could tell right away that Sunwoo felt  _ strongly  _ about Haknyeon). 

It didn’t help how close the two of them were, Haknyeon almost on Sunwoo’s lap after avoiding the men fighting next to them. His hand was also resting right above Sunwoo’s knee, and if it moved any higher, he would surely do something embarrassing—like pass out; Sunwoo shivered at the thought. 

“Well, Mr.Kim,” Sunwoo drawled, grinning at the way Haknyeon snapped to attention, “what do you suggest we do to get out of here, then?” 

“Well,  _ Mr.Kim, _ ” Haknyeon mocked, an airy smile lighting up his face, “shall we do it the old fashioned way?” 

The confusion filling Sunwoo must have shown on his face, because Haknyeon’s grin only grew in size. The lights in the bar made the other glow, and Sunwoo cursed his heart for panging at how beautiful Haknyeon looked, even while mocking him ( _ for fuck’s sake Sunwoo, you barely know the guy _ — _ but something about him felt achingly familiar).  _

“Shoot our way out.” And somehow, Sunwoo realized in that instant, that chaotic grin would be the death of him. 

  
  


Haknyeon didn’t see Sunwoo again till their next mission. After declaring a shoot out, the two had been separated in a whirlwind of bullets and bodies; they had been forced to jump back to hq—which existed, oddly enough, in the 1950s—by themselves. Haknyeon had been whisked away to the hospital wing (much to the glee of Hyunjoon, who had greeted him with a devilish smirk and demands to know everything about his new partner), so he hadn’t seen Sunwoo. 

“So… what’s up with you and Sunwoo?” Came an inquisitive voice from behind the chair, drawing Haknyeon out of the show he had been watching. 

Kevin was sitting with his back to Haknyeon, intently typing up the paperwork for their post mission report. The two had established a sort of routine after missions; they spent these days lounging around in Kevin’s humongous office, all sorts of takeout from different years filling the office while shitty music blasted over the speakers they technically weren’t supposed to have. 

“Nothing’s up. Why would anything be up? Such a weird question to ask me. Are you trying to throw me off? Maybe something’s up with you, huh? What’s up with  _ you  _ and Sunwoo?” Haknyeon rambled, instantly flushing at the thought of Sunwoo, and the implications in Kevin’s innocent question. 

“Hak, you are  _ terrible  _ at deflecting. Now you have to tell me,” Kevin demanded, spinning around in his chair with a demonic grin, clapping his hands with glee. 

“It’s _nothing,_ Kev.”   
“....But you _want_ it to be something?” 

“Kevin!” 

Haknyeon was fully blushing at this point, face as red as an apple. The thought was appealing on some level; he had clicked with Sunwoo in a way he’d never clicked with someone in this line during the mission. Haknyeon had realized they were practically always on the same wavelength—scarily so, because the wavelength he was on tended to be the most idiotic and chaos-causing one. 

“Don’t lie to yourself. I knew the instant I saw the same stupid glint in his eyes when the mission details were revealed—it’s the same one you get.” Kevin had the same wry smile on his face that he had when he successfully analyzed a criminal’s next move, and it was irritating Haknyeon. 

What irritated him even more was how well Kevin knew him, and how right he was; Haknyeon was drawn to Sunwoo like a moth drawn to a flame, and they got along like a house on fire. But rather than a house, it would be like watching the hq building get burnt to the ground—violent, but beautiful. And if Haknyeon found Sunwoo physically attractive—well—no one had to know. It was almost like the two were meant to be partners. 

“I wish you would stop being so arrogant,” Haknyeon muttered, sticking his tongue out for good measure (the amused chuckle Kevin gave in response told him it didn’t work in his favor). 

“I wish you would stop being childish and fess up to your feelings. Eyes rolled up at the ceiling emoji.” 

“Did you just describe the emoji out loud?” Haknyeon asked in disgust, already flinging his slipper at Kevin, who ducked it without looking phased. 

“Well, there’s no option to use it in real life!” 

“ _ Yeah _ —that’s what your  _ face  _ is for, dumbass.” 

  
  


Haknyeon loved the beach. He loved it more than Kevin (okay that was a lie), he loved it more than the high of a successful mission, and he loved it as much as the expression on Sunwoo’s face after he found a crab in his pants. 

“This is  _ not  _ funny, Hak!” Was followed by a high pitched scream, sending another wave of giggles through Haknyeon, who had tears streaming down his cheeks at this point. Everytime he attempted to placate Sunwoo, another bout of hysterical giggles broke through. 

“Oh my god, help me, god help me!” Sunwoo was hopping from foot to foot, looking on the verge of tears himself as he wriggled in hopes of getting the crab out. 

While one part of his brain laughed his ass off at Sunwoo, the other part of Haknyeon’s brain was admiring how stupidly beautiful the other looked right now. The two had managed to wheedle an extra day at their jump’s location (it included Sunwoo bartering a month’s worth of paperwork with Eric), and Haknyeon had insisted on the beach. They had used the money left over to rent the cheapest beach house, and had gone off exploring without even checking in. 

Haknyeon shielded his eyes from the sun as he watched Sunwoo complain, lips pulling into a soft smile. The other’s skin was glowing in the sun, the water droplets hanging off his body jumping in the sunlight. The metal necklace reflected the lighting of the evening, and brought attention to the curves of Sunwoo’s neck and chest. Haknyeon looked away with flushed cheeks, staring intently at the sand. 

“The way you betrayed me…” Sunwoo trailed off mid sentence, flopping onto the space next to Haknyeon with a groan. The tiny crab from his pants was left on the ground a few feet away, and Haknyeon almost felt bad. 

A contemplative silence fell upon them as Haknyeon turned his attention towards the sea, eyes fluttering shut while the wind blew through his hair. He felt Sunwoo shift beside him, holding his breath when a hesitant arm fell over his shoulders. Haknyeon tensed, then relaxed into the touch, stifling a laugh when he felt Sunwoo slump in relief. 

“Do you ever regret taking this job?” 

Sunwoo’s voice was quiet, unnaturally so. Haknyeon was used to bold, booming questions, so this was like a complete change. Haknyeon opened his eyes to see a withdrawn look in Sunwoo’s eyes, and suddenly, he understood. 

“I’d like to say no,” Haknyeon paused, and laughed a little, “but that would be a complete lie. There are times where I love this job, but there are also times where I hate what I became through it.” 

“Me too.” Haknyeon gave an inquisitive eyebrow raise at Sunwoo, hoping the other would elaborate. Sunwoo cleared his throat, averting his eyes before speaking again. 

“I hate who I’ve become. I…  _ we,  _ kill people, Hak. We kill people, and we don’t even know the reason why,” Sunwoo choked out, voice breaking as he talked. Haknyeon flinched; he thought about that every night, and hearing it voiced—it was almost too much. 

“I know, Woo. But it’s too late now. We don’t have a life to return to,” Haknyeon lowered his voice for the last part, thinking about the normal life he could have had. But he had met Kevin, Hyunjoon, Sangyeon—Sunwoo, someone who he felt so deeply conflicted about—through this job, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

“Me eith— _ wait a damn minute!”  _ Haknyeon watched with wide eyes as Sunwoo sprang off the floor, hands flailing as they came to point at him in shock. Sand flew everywhere, and Haknyeon ignored the missing warmth around his shoulders to ask what the hell was wrong with him. 

“You called me by  _ Woo _ —a nickname! I won,” Sunwoo teased, placing his hands on his hips and leaning down to wiggle his eyebrows in triumph at Haknyeon. 

“What exactly did you win?” Haknyeonn squinted his eyes, raising an eyebrow in question at Sunwoo, who faltered in his victory parade. He was trying to fight the smile from breaking out across his face, and with Sunwoo’s dazed expression, it was a losing battle. 

“....I won  _ something _ , okay? I got you, Ju Haknyeon, who was hell bent on never using a nickname, to use a nickname. And without me even bothering you about it!” Sunwoo declared this like it was a huge achievement, smile brighter than the afternoon sun. 

Their giggles died down as the sun slowly set, the sound of waves hitting the shore and fireflies buzzing filling the air. Haknyeon couldn’t take his eyes off Sunwoo, whose skin was washed in the colors of the sunset, hues of orange and red dancing across it. His eyes were painted with the faint yellow of what remained, and Haknyeon felt like his breath had been taken away. 

“I’m glad I met you, Woo,” Haknyeon whispered quietly, the truth slipping out his lips before he could filter himself. The shocked, yet bashful look Sunwoo shot him told him it was worth it, even if the other didn’t feel the same way. 

“W-why are you getting so sentimental on me, you old man,” Sunwoo stuttered, clearly flustered at the serious turn the conversation had taken. 

“I just—” Haknyeon paused, collecting his thoughts, “—I never thought I would meet anyone who understood… me, or what this job has done to us.” 

“I feel the same way.”

Sunwoo’s voice was low, but it carried, heavy with emotions and meaning—meaning that was easily captured through five simple words. His smile was breathtaking, growing wider as he knocked their shoulders together. Haknyeon couldn’t help but smile back, weakly knocking Sunwoo’s shoulder back. 

  
  
  


The hotel room was quiet. Sunwoo sat in the center of the plush couch, fingers digging into his knees, head lowered, and eyes pressed shut. The sound of Haknyeon furiously banging drawers and slamming doors echoed through the place, and with every second it got louder. 

They had almost failed their seventh mission. Sunwoo had been reckless, not listening to Haknyeon’s calls, scoffing them off because he was

_ “ _ — _ experienced too, okay?! Just because you’ve been doing this shit longer doesn’t make you the boss of me, Mr.Ju. Don’t fucking air your issues with authority out with me, and don’t expect me to put up with all your bullshit either!” Sunwoo bit out, yanking his wrist out of Haknyeon’s grip.  _

_ “I _ — _ I’m not doing this because of that, Sunwoo. I just want to make sure you take ca _ — _ ”  _

_ “Cut the shit. You’ve never trusted me, Haknyeon. This is just an excuse to take over the mission yourself and get all the credit back at hq, isn’t it? I bet you do this shit every time, even with little things like paperwork. Steamroll over the little guy and take the credit.”  _

_ Haknyeon recoiled like he had been slapped, and if Sunwoo was in the right state of mind, he would have ended this ridiculous argument right then and there. The rational part of him knew Haknyeon was  _ never  _ supposed to look so frazzled, look so out of place (and he most certainly shouldn’t look like that because of Sunwoo). But rational Sunwoo wasn’t talking; the furious one was.  _

_ “Just stay out of my way, Haknyeon. I’ll take care of this myself.”  _

_ And before Haknyeon could do so much as breathe, Sunwoo was out of the room and in mission mode, switching his bluetooth mode to off. He didn’t need Haknyeon or Eric or Kevin breathing down his neck during the mission.  _

Sunwoo had already received his fair share of scolding from Eric and Kevin, who had specifically set up a video call so they could make eye contact while berating him. Haknyeon had been absent from the room, mumbling something about making a call to someone named Hyunjean or Hungjoo. The guilt had been beginning to set in, but listening to his conversation with Haknyeon again had made it full blown. 

The banging finally stopped. A moment later, Haknyeon stepped out of the bedroom, hair dishevelled and looking angrier than when he had stepped in. Whoever he had called had most likely fired him up. Sunwoo gulped, choosing to make eye contact as the other drew closer instead of looking away. Whatever happened now, he had it coming. 

Haknyeon came to a stop directly in front of him, head tilted down to look at Sunwoo, whose head was tilted up in response. A tense silence crackled between them, and he gulped again; he couldn’t even look away, imprisoned by the suffocating eye contact. Sunwoo felt like if he looked away, he would miss something—something important. 

“You are such a fucking idiot.”

And then, Haknyeon grabbed Sunwoo’s collar and dragged him up, crashing their lips together. Sunwoo’s mind went blank, and all he could feel was the heat of Haknyeon’s lips, the tiny hand curled into his shirt, and the fact that  _ he was doing nothing to respond to this fucking kiss.  _

Before Haknyeon could even begin to pull away, Sunwoo snapped himself out of it and returned the kiss with vigor, standing up fully to deepen it. He anchored himself with one hand buried in Haknyeon’s curls and the other wrapping around his waist, bringing him flush against Sunwoo. The little noise Haknyeon made into Sunwoo’s lips only invigorated him, and he pushed more into it. 

When they pulled away, Sunwoo wanted to jump right back into it. Haknyeon’s lips were glossy, cheeks flushed, and his curly hair was flying everywhere. Sunwoo probably looked like a mess, but he didn’t care if he got to see  _ this  _ Haknyeon. But he had something to do. 

“I’m sorry,” Sunwoo stated bluntly, tightly gripping onto Haknyeon’s hands. The guilt simmered, and he couldn’t stop the echoes of his harsh words in his head. He saw Haknyeon begin to say something, but he beat him to it. 

“I didn’t mean any of that stupid shit I said—it was all in the heat of the moment, but that doesn’t excuse it. I’m so sorry. None of that was true; it was just me taking my anger out on you, and it will never happen again,” Sunwoo finished firmly, smiling a little to himself as Haknyeon’s eyes got lighter and lighter as he spoke. 

“Are you mad at me?” Sunwoo asked after a few beats of silence, voice dwindling and barely heard, even in the quiet of the hotel room. 

“Obviously,” Haknyeon snorted, rolling his eyes, “but not because you were being a little shit. Because you turned off your bluetooth! Do you know how worried Kevin and Eric were?”   
Sunwoo winced; the first rule of being a jumper was to never turn off your bluetooth. Your Observers were the eyes and ears that you couldn’t physically accomplish, and every mission only turned out smoothly because of them. 

“Do you know how worried  _ I  _ was?” Haknyeon’s voice had dropped, sounding watery. A quick glance up proved his suspicions; Haknyeon’s eyes were glassy, shining with unshed tears, and a slight tremble was running through his body. 

Before Sunwoo could even process any thoughts, he was enveloping Haknyeon in a hug on autopilot. He felt the smaller body tense in his arms, before quickly melting into the hug, shaking arms coming up to tightly wrap around Sunwoo’s waist. A second later, Haknyeon’s head was buried in Sunwoo’s chest, and he scowled at the tears that rapidly wet his shirt. 

“I won’t do it again, I promise, baby,” Sunwoo whispered roughly, running a gentle hand through Haknyeon’s hair. 

The two had hyper bonded—no wonder his idiotic actions had affected Haknyeon so deeply. After the second mission, it felt like the two spent every waking second together. In between missions, they could be found harassing Eric and Kevin at their respective offices. If not there, Haknyeon liked to drag Sunwoo to his favorite time periods (Haknyeon had the ability to jump at will because of his standing with the organization, so they often went on trips during break periods). At some point, their rest stop had become the same: the subway they had seen each other for the first time.

A light snore broke him out of his thoughts, and Sunwoo looked down to see that Haknyeon had fallen asleep in his arms—standing up. He snorted; only Ju Haknyeon would be able to fall asleep while standing. There was only one thing to do. 

Sunwoo wrapped his arms around the fold of Haknyeon’s knees, and with one swift motion, he was carrying the elder bridal style. He moved slowly, grinning triumphantly when Haknyeon didn’t even stir, still fast asleep in his arms. After some tricky maneuvering, Sunwoo had safely tucked Haknyeon into bed. 

As he was moving to head back to his room, a hand shot out from beneath the blankets and latched onto his wrist. Sunwoo stifled his scream once he realized it was Haknyeon, whose eyes were barely open. 

“Go to sle—” 

“I like you, Sunwoo,” Haknyeon announced, before abruptly shutting his eyes and slumping back into the bed. Sunwoo couldn’t help the surprised smile that spread across his face. 

“I like you too,” Sunwoo murmured, the stupid smile not leaving his face all night. 

  
  


Haknyeon stared down his handler, unflinching even as the man’s scowl grew. They were at an impasse—they had been for the past hour. He had stormed into hq’s main office a few weeks after the almost botched mission; more importantly, he had stormed in right after he had finished his millionth mission. 

“I’m not budging. I have it in print. You  _ swore  _ I would be out of the game after my millionth mission,” Haknyeon’s insisted, voice firm even as the room filled with more executives. 

“Fine… but we need you to do one more mission. And then we’ll let you go—you and your whole little posse.” Their grins were a little too smug, and Haknyeon waited for the catch, but it never came. 

“...Okay, well, send the information to Kevin, and I’ll let Sunw—” 

“No.” 

“No… ?” Haknyeon trailed off, eyes widening in surprise. 

“No. This will be a solo mission—completely off the grid. No observers, no partner—just you and your skills. Prove yourself to us one final time, and you’re free to go, no strings attached.” 

Haknyeon stilled, eyes narrowing as he observed the people in the room. He had never gone completely solo during a mission, but how hard could it be? Haknyeon knew he could find a way to sneak a connection to Kevin in case of an emergency, so he wasn’t worried about that. He was worried about hiding this from Sunwoo, who he lived with. 

Almost immediately after their relationship of sorts had been discovered by Kevin and Eric, he had been promptly kicked out from his shared apartment with Kevin. Haknyeon had wandered aimlessly back to hq, only to find Sunwoo in the same position, except the keys to a brand new apartment rested in his hand. It had been decided in under a span of a minute that they would be living together, and the rest was history. 

“... Alright. Push me the information, and I’ll get started as soon as possible.”

  
  


Sunwoo eagerly waited for Haknyeon to return from hq, sprawled out on the couch they had bought last week. It was already starting to wear, but it felt like home. He pushed his face into the pillow, groaning pathetically. He always turned into the laziest piece of shit left to his own devices, not able to entertain himself without a certain redhead to irritate into bickering with him. 

The knock on the door made Sunwoo spring off the couch, nearly sprinting to the entry before remembering he had a reputation to uphold, and forcing his gait into a casual walk. He answered the door with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, leaning against the frame. 

“Hey.” 

“Hey yourself,” Haknyeon replied with a roll of his eyes, flinging off his shoes as he crossed into the house. The other’s shoulders were tense, but a small smile played on his lips, and Sunwoo prayed for good news. 

“So? What did they say?” Sunwoo asked, buzzing around Haknyeon as they headed into the kitchen. He must have imagined the way Haknyeon froze, because seconds later the other was giving him a bright smile. 

“I’m free to go! And guess what?”

Haknyeon’s grin didn’t waver as he awkwardly sat himself on the kitchen counter, swinging his legs like a kid (Sunwoo found it adorable that this tiny man’s favorite place in the apartment was the highest places, places he could sit on like a little cat).  Sunwoo hummed inquisitively, instinctively slotting himself between Haknyeon’s thighs and playing with his hands. 

“They said you could all come with me! I just have some paperwork to fill out this next week at hq, and then we can go,” Haknyeon rushed out, voice getting faster and faster in excitement. But there was a tightness in his smile that Sunwoo hadn’t seen before. 

“That’s it? They’re letting go of  _ you,  _ one of their best agents, this easily?  _ And  _ the rest of us?” Sunwoo asked skeptically, tilting his head at his boyfriend in confusion. He didn’t miss the way Haknyeon’s eyes darkened and grip tightened on Sunwoo’s hands, before switching to an easy going smile. 

“Yep! Even if hq are dicks, they stick to their promises,” Haknyeon reassured him, shooting Sunwoo one last smile before hopping off the counter. “I’m gonna go shower, and we can watch that stupid action movie you wanted to watch, mkay?” 

“Hey, it’s not stupid!” Sunwoo scolded, pouting at Haknyeon as he disappeared into their shared bedroom with one last laugh. The minute he heard the shower turn on, the smile slipped off Sunwoo’s face and he rushed to grab his phone, dialing a number he had memorized at this point. 

The phone rang twice, clicked, and was picked up, a chirpy voice coming through. Sunwoo bit his lip, before deciding to fuck it and just say it. 

“Kevin? I think Haknyeon’s got himself into some trouble…” 

  
  


Things were going terribly wrong. He couldn’t breathe, he could barely see out of his left eye, he couldn’t feel anything in his left leg, and he didn’t even have any service to call himself out of this hellhole. Haknyeon could feel a few tears slip out, and he gave one broken sob as the reality of his situation slammed into him. 

The mission had been simple enough: get into a museum the night before the exhibit, steal some diamond, and get out of there. But Haknyeon hadn’t accounted for the countless other thieves who had planned to rob it tonight as well. He had been bombarded by other, much larger groups, and he hadn’t been able to handle them. It was also impossible to escape through the inner tunnels of the museum because he knew nothing about the underground blueprints. 

Haknyeon had shoved himself into an empty service elevator, cradling his only gun with ammo left in his right hand, while the other was desperately pressed against the bullet wound in his leg. Blood dripped into his eye from the head wound, and he felt like he was going to throw up. 

And worst of all, he was all alone. No comforting voice in his ear telling him that he was going to get home safe, no Sunwoo alternating between reassuring words and shrieking with panic at the sight of blood, no Eric breaking into the radio waves to scold them for pulling idiotic stunts. The bluetooth connection was spotty at best down here, and he didn’t have the mental strength to activate it. 

Haknyeon heaved out another sob, eyes pressing shut; he had never felt so alone in his entire life—and he was probably going to die inside this shitty little elevator. He had so many things he still wanted to do. Haknyeon wanted to live a normal life—he wanted to buy a giant house by the beach with Sunwoo (Kevin, Hyunjoon, Sangyeon, and Eric would hopefully be nearby), he wanted to adopt the biggest dog they could find, he wanted to wake up and watch the sunrise with Sunwoo, he wanted to actually grow old. He wanted to tell Sunwoo that he loved him. 

“Then tell him yourself dumbass,” A voice crackled into his ear, and Haknyeon almost thought he was hallucinating, if not for the buzz he felt in his ear. 

“ _ KEVIN?!”  _ Haknyeon wheezed out, doubling over in pain from the sudden movement. He heard four startled yells through the earpiece, before they all began talking at once. He didn’t have time to wonder how Kevin had secured the connection—or how Kevin knew he was here in the first place—the pain clouding his mind.

“Hak! Can you hear us?” Sangyeon’s voice carried over all of them, the type of worry only an older brother can have. Haknyeon nodded weakly, before verbally confirming. 

“Hold on, Hak. We have reinforcements on the way,” Came Kevin’s reassuring voice, tight with worry as Haknyeon’s coughs only grew louder. “In fact, he should be there… now.” 

Haknyeon’s heart raced as the elevator door was suddenly thrown open, squinting at the sudden flood of light from outside. When the black spots faded from his vision, Haknyeon nearly sobbed with relief. 

Sunwoo stood in front of him, fighting back a smile as he carefully lowered his upper body into the elevator to scoop Haknyeon up, who let it happen without a fight. He wrapped his shaking hands around any part of Sunwoo he could reach, burrowing his head into the other’s chest. 

“You, Ju Haknyeon, are a colossal dumbass,” Sunwoo’s words rumbled through his chest, and Haknyeon felt the vibrations against his forehead. He didn’t say anything, only sniffling and tightening his grip on Sunwoo in response. 

“... How did you find me?” Haknyeon whispered gruffly after a few minutes of silence; he could tell they were already outside, the cool night breeze ruffling his hair. The sound of Sunwoo’s footsteps smacking the rough concrete filled the night air, and he knew the other was planning a whole speech. 

“Do you really think you can hide stuff from me? I knew the minute you were back from hq that something was up, and with a little digging on Kevin and Eric’s ends, we found the “mission” you were assigned.” Haknyeon could hear the sneer in Sunwoo’s words, and patiently waited for an explanation. 

“You were supposed to fail the mission. HQ purposefully gave you the most difficult mission they could find—either you’d die there (along with hq’s secrets), or you would fail the mission and be stuck at hq forever,” Sunwoo’s voice grew in volume as he spoke, anger dripping from his words. 

“But… but, I failed,” Haknyeon mumbled miserably, feeling tears gather in his eyes again. He had gone through all this bullshit to get  _ all of them _ out of the game, and in the end, he was getting no one out. 

“What are you talking about? The diamond’s right here.” 

This was a new voice. Haknyeon peeked out from Sunwoo’s chest to see Hyunjoon standing in front of a large black van (where he assumed everyone else was), lightly tossing a shining diamond in the air. His eyes widened to the size of saucers, beginning to splutter which turned into body wracking coughs. 

“Hey! Breathe!” Sunwoo instructed in a panicked voice, thumping Haknyeon’s back before rubbing it as the coughs died down. 

“H-how did you even get that?” Haknyeon asked after the coughs stopped (his coughing had pulled everyone else out, the other three appearing simultaneously with water bottles and worried mother voices). 

“Hak, you always forget that I worked my fair share in the field before I decided to be a doctor,” Hyunjoon reminded him, rolling his eyes playfully at the way Haknyeon’s eyes widened (again) in understanding. 

“And I was damn good at it—better than Sunwoo at least.” The smirk Hyunjoon shot them was far from innocent, and Haknyeon knew without even looking that Sunwoo’s mouth was already open to argue. 

“At least I’m not a no good doctor like you.” 

“What’s wrong with doctors?!” Sangyeon interrupted this time, indignation filling his voice, and he could hear a long suffering sigh come from Kevin and Eric’s direction. 

Haknyeon giggled softly at the chaos that descended upon them within a span of a few seconds. He took that moment to look around, breath catching as he realized he was surrounded by people he would consider his family. Haknyeon didn’t even notice the tears slipping down his face, gathering by his chin before dripping to the ground. A ferocious happiness bloomed in his chest, and Haknyeon felt a smile so wide that it hurt spread across his face. 

  
  


“I like this one.” 

Haknyeon turned to see Sunwoo perched on the windowsill, eyes trained on the ocean, which was right in front of the home. The evening light poured into the living room, and he took a moment to admire how ethereal Sunwoo looked. 

The house was empty, filled with white walls and wooden floors. But it held potential. Haknyeon could imagine the next few weeks here: painting the walls with Sunwoo (which also meant bickering over which color scheme to pick), dragging the rest of their idiot friends along on a shopping spree (which meant buying a bunch of ridiculous things they would never need), and decorating their  _ home.  _ A home just for the two of them. 

“We can see the ocean, and I know you would die without an ocean view,” Sunwoo teased lightly, beckoning Haknyeon to join him by the mirror. The familiar weight of his arm around Haknyeon’s waist greeted him, and he reciprocated by playing with the nape of Sunwoo’s hair. 

“Mmm, and you can have your little game room too because this place has enough rooms,” Haknyeon teased right back, grinning down at Sunwoo, who had looked up to stick his tongue out in defiance. 

The playful moment passed, but the two continued to gaze at each other; they held the look for so long that the afternoon reds washed into evening blues, coloring their skin as the moon shone down at them. Sunwoo’s eyes were dilated, so black that Haknyeon could see himself in their reflection. 

“I love you,” Sunwoo murmured, breaking the silence and the gap between them as he stood up to press their lips together. Haknyeon sighed into the kiss softly, eyes fluttering shut as he wound his hand into the fabric of Sunwoo’s shirt. 

“I love you,” Haknyeon mumbled into the next kiss, opening his eyes enough to make eye contact with Sunwoo, who looked pleased. 

And as the sound of the ocean filled the house, and Sunwoo’s eyes lit up with the visage of the moon, Haknyeon knew he had finally jumped to the right time. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write some time travel shenanigans, but couldn't fit them into the main plot. so here they are ;D

“Where the hell are we?” Sunwoo asked, head swiveling around to take in the sights. The ocean spread out on all sides of them, and the sound of people chattering filled the air. Haknyeon was crouched in front of him, eyes flitting around, like he was looking for someone. 

“Okay, we’re good to go. Follow me,” He whispered, beckoning Sunwoo forward, who was still confused. 

“What do you mean?  _ Where the hell are we?!”  _ Sunwoo hissed, forcing a fake smile at a white lady who shot them a horrified look. It was inevitable; the two were dressed in dirty clothes from their last mission, covered in mud. Haknyeon had dragged them here on a whim, not even giving Sunwoo a heads up. 

“Oh my god, do you ever stop complaining?” Haknyeon shot him the dirtiest look he had ever received (even dirtier than the time Sunwoo had accidentally shown someone from the stone age a phone and confused the hell out of him), before proceeding to shush him as they crept across the ship. 

Right—did he mention they were on a  _ fucking  _ ship? Sunwoo already felt seasick just looking at the railings, resting a hand on his stomach. When he looked up, Haknyeon had already moved so far down the ship, so he pushed down his nausea and ran to catch up. 

“Oh my god, oh my god,  _ oh my god! _ ” Haknyeon was mumbling under his breath, standing alert at the very end of the boat when Sunwoo finally caught up, out of breath (he did not understand how Haknyeon, the gremlin he was, moved so fast with his tiny legs). 

“Now will you tell me,” Sunwoo begged, hands resting on his knees. 

Instead of answering, Haknyeon moved toward the edge of the railing like he was in a trance. Sunwoo whined, stomping his foot in protest at the way his boyfriend continued to ignore him. His eye caught on large text sprawled across the center of the boat, eyes squinting as he recalled how to read written english. 

“ _ The Titanic?  _ What the fuck is the titanic?” Sunwoo mumbled to himself, following Haknyeon to the edge of the ship. The swirling in his stomach got stronger the closer he got to the edge, and  _ oh god,  _ Sunwoo really should have taken his sea sickness medicine. 

“Okay, I’m going to stand up on this, and you’re going to hold me from the back. Got it?” 

“Got it,” He responded automatically, before actually considering the directions, eyebrows raising and eyes widening. 

“Wait,  _ what?!”  _ Sunwoo yelled, voice reaching pitches he didn’t think was possible for him. And it looked like Haknyeon didn’t appreciate this new found talent, if it wasn’t obvious from the narrowed eyes and scowl. 

“Just follow me,” Haknyeon demanded, rolling his eyes and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I swear, why am I dating him…”

Sunwoo raised an eyebrow at Haknyeon’s back as he pitifully attempted to climb onto the railing, before rolling his eyes and stepping up to help his short boyfriend. He hoisted Haknyeon up to the second railing, letting the man adjust himself. Sunwoo grew bored quickly, letting himself wrap his arms around Haknyeon’s waist and rest his head against the other’s back while he continued to mumble to himself. 

“Okay, pay attention now!” Haknyeon exclaimed, spreading his arms wide in one sudden motion. Sunwoo’s eyes widened, automatically tightening his grip on Haknyeon’s waist. Had Haknyeon gone crazy? 

“Jack! I’m flying, Jack!” Haknyeon continued to shout, and  _ wait a damn second _ —

“Who the hell is Jack?! You dating someone else?” Sunwoo lifted Haknyeon off the railing and back onto the ground, eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“What are you talking about? Jack is—” 

“If you wanted to break up with me, you should’ve just told me, not found a mistress,” Sunwoo broke in, suddenly sullen. Who knew his first relationship would end like this? But he had to do something to salvage it.  

“Is it because he’s a foreigner? Because I can be foreign too. I know some spanish,” Sunwoo bragged, ignoring the sudden wave of nausea after he looked out at the sea. 

“Oh, yeah? Go on,” Haknyeon challenged, forgetting that he didn’t care about that, let alone have a foreigner boyfriend named Jack. Sunwoo missed the way Haknyeon hid a smirk behind his hand, too busy mentally scrambling for any Spanish. 

“Uh…” Sunwoo coughed, trying to buy himself time, “hola?” 

“Oh my god, I’m dating a dumbass,” Haknyeon muttered faintly, but loud enough for Sunwoo (who had began to turn green) to hear. 

“Hey! If  _ my _ spanish isn’t good enough, just go to Ja— _ oh no, _ ” Were Sunwoo’s final words right before disaster striked. 

Haknyeon’s mouth dropped as Sunwoo proceeded to hurl everywhere, covering both of their shoes and half the deck in the area they were standing. He thought it would end after one good hurl, but Sunwoo kept going. When it finally ended, the two stood there silently, letting the events of the last five minutes stew. 

“Three things,” Haknyeon began, raising a hand to cut off Sunwoo, who had opened his mouth to protest. 

“One: I am absolutely not dating anyone named Jack, you really need to study history more or watch movies, you recluse.” 

“Two: If you don’t start taking sea sickness medicine, I will ban kisses. Also, we are finding a mop immediately after this conversation and cleaning this up. And buying new shoes, because I would rather not jump back with the chinese takeout we had earlier all over my shoes.” 

“Three: I refuse to take you anywhere after this, you are literally so embarrassing,” Haknyeon hissed this last part, grabbing Sunwoo’s arm and walking briskly to the interior of the ship. They gave awkward smiles to the old people milling about that part of the ship; Sunwoo was mortified a little too late, suddenly realizing that all these people had seen him throw up. 

“ _ I’m  _ embarrassing? What about what you were doing on that stupid railing?” Sunwoo whispered back, sticking his tongue out at the glare Haknyeon shot him. 

“It’s still not as bad as literally  _ throwing up everywhere,  _ you dumbass!” 

 

*** 

 

“Oh,  _ fuck, _ ” Haknyeon mumbled under his breath, staring in horror at the body in front of him. He could already hear Kevin and Sunwoo’s worried yells about to come in through the bluetooth, so he tried to think how he would break it to them. 

“What? What happened?” Came Sunwoo’s crackly voice, edged with worry. 

“Uh, well…” Haknyeon trailed off, toeing the body to make sure they were really dead before alarming the squad. “I may have just, maybe, perhaps, haha, uhhhh—”

“Dear god, spit it out,” Kevin interrupted, and Haknyeon could already see the single, sass-filled eyebrow raise Kevin was giving him from hq. 

“Haha, no need to call me your god,” Haknyeon awkwardly deflected, dread pooling in his stomach at the sight of the very dead body at his feet. Even worse, the toupe had fallen off the body’s head, and was now laying somewhere off to the side. 

“Hak, deflect one more time and I’ll jump to where you are.” Sunwoo was the one to interrupt this time, agitation heavy in his voice. 

“Okay, don’t get mad at me, but I  _ maaaaaaaayyyyyyyy _ have killed that one guy who was supposed to be the US president. Orange?” 

“There is literally no president whose name is Orange,” Kevin groaned, but then paused, and Haknyeon could feel the horror growing in that time. 

“Haknyeon. Don’t tell me…”

“Okay! I won’t tell you,” Haknyeon rushed out, jumping away from the body (like that would somehow help his situation). 

“Please tell me you dumbasses didn’t actually kill a fucking future president?!” Kevin’s voice came out alarmingly clear over the feed, exasperation filling every word. 

“Wait is he that fat bald guy?” Sunwoo was suddenly back on the line, and Haknyeon could hear the grin through his words. “Because if it is, way to go babe!” 

“They’re all fat bald guys, he ain’t nothing special,” Haknyeon grumbled, watching the body with narrowed eyes like it would spring back to life (which would only serve to give him a premature heart attack and force him to retire). 

“Not Obama!” Kevin protested; Haknyeon rolled his eyes. They had all recently split up US history into presidents, and Kevin had been unfortunately given Obama, and he hadn’t shut up about the man since. 

“Okay, they’re all bald and fat,  _ except Obama, _ ” Haknyeon said through clenched teeth, already knowing the ass beating from Kevin wasn’t worth it. 

“Not to be the worried one of the group, but why in the hell are we talking about Obama when Haknyeon could have just killed one of the future presidents?” Sangyeon’s voice broke into the feed. 

“It’s not my fault these white people all look the same!” Haknyeon immediately jumped to defend himself, but then a lightbulb appeared over his head. 

“Hey, we all know this tanned bastard was one of the shittiest presidents ever—so, why don’t we just, uh… leave him dead?” Haknyeon nearly whispered the last part, wincing in preparation for the outraged protests. 

Instead, he was met with shocked silence. Haknyeon knew Sunwoo would have something to say (as he does about everything that happens during their missions), but even his boyfriend was quiet, surprisingly. He hoped they were quiet because they were thinking, not because they were so horrified by what he had said they had muted Haknyeon to discuss the fastest way to send him to a hospital for rehab. 

“I vote yes for leaving the cheeto asshole dead,” Sunwoo was the first to respond, sounding far too gleeful for someone essentially participating in an assassination. “Plus, it would take time to fix this mistake, and Haknyeon, one of our top agents, simply doesn’t have time for that.” 

“But couldn’t someone else go fi—” 

“Anyways, as I was saying, there’s just simply no time to fix this!” Sunwoo kept talking like Sangyeon hadn’t tried to interrupt with a logical fix, voice just getting louder. Haknyeon stifled a giggle, noting to give his boyfriend a few extra kisses when he got home. 

“I agree. We get no benefits from leaving him alive,” Eric piped up out of nowhere, voice bubbly and energetic compared to everyone else. 

“Eric? How the hell did you join?” Kevin questioned, and  _ oops,  _ Haknyeon had forgotten to tell him that he had given Eric the password for their feed. 

“No time for stupid questions. We need your vote on if we leave the president dead or not.” 

“Sometimes I hate the conversations I walk in on,” Hyunjoon groaned, clearly having joined the feed just as Eric said that. “But I’m always down to kill presidents.” 

“I don’t even want to question what you just said,” Sangyeon was the first to react, words followed by a long suffering sigh. 

“Oh, the killing happened already. Resident loverboy here killed our glorious orange president to be,” Kevin announced, snorting through his words. Haknyeon scowled, also noting to kick Kevin’s ass extra hard when he got back. 

“Sunwoo killed a president? I knew he would do some stupid shit one da—” 

“Wait, wait, wait,  _ hold on.  _ Since when did  _ I  _ become loverboy? It’s obviously Haknyeon. And why the hell would I be the first one to accidentally kill a president? That’s peak Haknyeon behavior!” 

“Are you shitting me? Dude, everyone at hq calls  _ you  _ loverboy, you are so whipped for Haknyeon, bro,” Hyunjoon replied, whistling lowly at the choking sound Sunwoo made. Haknyeon only giggled in response, not protesting what Hyunjoon said. 

“You’re right, but this time, it was me. I didn’t mean to!” Haknyeon interrupted before Sunwoo’s reputation took an even bigger hit, directing the attention back to him. 

“Whatever, I barely know what’s going on. I vote on keeping him dead, though,” Hyunjoon offered, and Haknyeon could see him shrugging through his words. 

“Well, Kevin and Sangyeon, we’re waiting on your votes,” Haknyeon stated, voice sing songy. Maybe he would get away with this after all! 

“If we kill him, doesn’t the timeline in 2018 go haywire?” Of course Sangyeon would look at the logical side; Haknyeon rolled his eyes—who had time for logic in this economy? 

“Eh, we can deal with that later. I vote to keep him dead, majority wins,” Kevin ended the argument, sounding way too bored for someone discussing the life or death of a president. 

Sunwoo’s sudden cheering could be heard over the bluetooth, so loud that Haknyeon flinched. “Hell yes! Come home quick baby, we need to throw a party over this.” 

“I can’t believe you monsters are going to throw a party over a president’s dea—” 

“I’ll bring the alcohol! See you idiots there,” Hyunjoon gave one final whoop, and then a click could be heard, letting them know he had disconnected. 

“Our first assassination party of the year,” Haknyeon announced, grinning as he prepared his jump back to hq. 

“ _ First?  _ There’s going to be  _ more?!”  _

 

***

 

“Wait, before we go, there’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Haknyeon said, suddenly whirling Sunwoo so they were chest to chest, staring intently at each other. 

Sunwoo’s breath caught, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Haknyeon, whose eyes glowed in the evening sun. His hair was curling around the edges, and Sunwoo had to resist the urge to run his hands through Haknyeon’s hair. They needed to get home this instant so he could kiss his boyfriend senseless. 

“What?” Sunwoo whispered, barely able to get the words out under the intense stare. 

“Leave a note for people in the past to fuck with them!” Haknyeon pulled away with an ecstatic grin, leaving a confused Sunwoo in the dust. 

A second passed. Another one. A few more. A whole minute passed. He still didn’t quite understand what had just happened. 

“Huh?” Sunwoo mumbled, dumbly following Haknyeon to the corner of the room they were staying in. Haknyeon was still talking to himself, busy with a large poster and markers, tongue sticking out as he wrote something down. 

“What are you talking about?” Sunwoo asked coherently this time, trying to peek around Haknyeon’s hair to see what was on the poster. 

“I wanna see if a simple poster I leave behind will fuck with the future timeline,” Haknyeon replied in a matter-of-fact voice, still bent over the poster. When he finally moved away, Sunwoo burst out laughing at the words. 

“THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING. DECEMBER 12, 2012,” Is what read on the poster, in the neatest handwriting that Sunwoo had ever seen. 

“I’m going to give it to one of those religious guys on the street, and see where it ends up going,” Haknyeon clued him in on the rest of the plan, evil little grin never leaving his lips. Sunwoo had to admit, it would be interesting to see if this went anywhere. 

  
  
  


“Oh my god, it worked,” Haknyeon whispered faintly one morning, looking as pale as paper. Sunwoo grumbled, turning over in bed to see his boyfriend already wide awake at an unreasonably early time. He would ask what the hell happened, but Sunwoo knew Haknyeon couldn’t keep his mouth shut for long. 

“Remember that stupid poster I left behind a week or two ago?” 

Sunwoo nodded into the pillow, yawning before opening one eye a crack to show the other that he was still listening. Haknyeon looked even paler than before, if that was possible. 

“I didn’t think it’d work this well…” Haknyeon trailed off, looking like he was going to hurl. Sunwoo narrowed his eyes, thinking back on what they had tried to do.  _ Wait a minute _ —

“You don’t mean that people  _ actually  _ thought the world would end in 2012?” Sunwoo almost gasped, but it turned into wheezing laughter at the horrified look on Haknyeon’s face as he nodded in affirmation. 

“ _ Oh no,  _ Kevin’s going to have my ass on a platter if he finds out,” Haknyeon whined, flopping back onto the bed, the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes. Sunwoo shook with laughter, not stopping even when Haknyeon rolled over onto him in a weak attempt to shut him up. 

“Forget about Kevin, hq is going to lose their shit when they find out!” Sunwoo wheezed between his giggles; he couldn’t wait to see all the propaganda people had made about the end of the world. 

“Haknyeon,” Sunwoo said solemnly, kneeling to gently rest a hand on Haknyeon’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of the risk you have taken for your stupid fucking prank, this is the best thing you have done on this job. Even if you become a fallen soldier after thi—” 

“ _ Oh my god,  _ shut the fuck up!” Haknyeon screamed into the pillow, weakly shoving Sunwoo. This just prompted him to burst into another wave of laughter, and after a few seconds, he heard tiny giggles coming from the lump underneath the blankets. 

“Hak… this is your biggest accomplishment. Just think of all the people that went wild before December 12, only to find out the world isn’t ending!” Sunwoo pulled the covers back to reveal Haknyeon, whose hair was flying everywhere and had a tiny smile on his face. 

Sunwoo nudged him one more time, and before long, the two had devolved into hysterical giggles, clutching onto one another as wave after wave of laughter hit them. 

_ December 12,  _ Sunwoo would later scratch into his time travel journal,  _ the day I fell more in love with Ju Haknyeon’s ridiculous little mind.  _

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that's that !! follow me on twt @ haksbff if u want to cry about haknyeon or tbz w me T^T


End file.
